Institutions tend to invest in
people that they know and
trust, and it's a problem if a
company doesn't have someone
to vouch for them on
their home turf.
Despite that, a lot of big U.S.
tech giants—Microsoft, Sony,
Salesforce and Amazon—are
setting up shop in Vancouver.
Why is that?
Silicon Valley is starved for
talent; salaries have skyrock-
eted and they are having a very
diœcult time —nding people.
The top companies try to —nd
the best people globally, and are
hiring them globally, but U.S.
immigration policies are limit-
ing their ability to bring them
to the States. As a result, these
companies have opened up a
number of small oœces all over
the world to house these people.
Having a bunch of small oœces
is not particularly eœcient,
especially for big projects where
people need to work together,
so some companies are starting
to consolidate their small oœces
into larger ones and they are
looking to Vancouver. We are
the closest international city to
all the largest tech companies
in Silicon Valley and Seattle.
We also have a great base of
technical talent, are politically
stable, and B.C. is a great place
to live—so people want to come
here. Plus, the Canadian dollar
is suddenly 30 per cent cheaper,
and the Canadian government
has been happy to welcome
these high-paying tech workers
to Canada.
You've had a bit of a peri-
patetic career. You got into
fund management after a
successful career in digital
media—pairing up with Don
Mattrick in the mid-'80s to
launch Distinctive Software,
which you eventually sold
to EA. But you also almost
went into the restaurant
business.
Don and I went to high school
together—and truth be known,
Don and I skipped a lot of school.
We had a passion for video
games.¢My dad had a restaurant—
Chinese smorgasbord, which I
don't think even exists anymore
in Vancouver—and I knew it was
like a 70-hour work week with
no time o˜. I had to go —gure out
something because there was
no way I was going to run the
restaurant. Luckily for me, Don
knew games. Don had the ability
to intuitively know if a game was
good enough and what needed
to be —xed. We sold Distinctive in
1991, but it wasn't until 1995 that
I had to have the hard conversa-
tion with my dad that I wasn't
going to run the restaurant.
Thank God I couldn't cook or
I'd still be there.
vanedge exITs
W Wurldtech
(Vancouver):
acquired by
General Electric
in 2015 for an undis-
closed amount
W Metafor
(Vancouver):
acquired by Splunk
in 2015
for an undisclosed
amount
W Mediacore
(Victoria):
acquired by Work-
day in 2015 for an
undisclosed amount
W Recon
Instruments
(Vancouver):
acquired by Intel in
2015 for $175 million
